Game 126, Mariners at Red Sox
Dave · August 25, 2010 at 10:00 am · Filed Under Mariners
Pauley (for real this time) vs Beckett, 10:35 am.
Game one of the double header. Get excited for six hours of watching this team play…
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Branyan, DH
Lopez, 3B
Kotchman, 1B
Gutierrez, CF
Bard, C
Langerhans, LF
Josh Wilson, SS
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30 Responses to “Game 126, Mariners at Red Sox”
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Beckett shouldn’t have a hard time mowing down Mariners today…..oh yeah, More Tui, less Lopey!
And I’ll check the box score at 8 to find the results.
It gets so lonely in the game thread sometimes…and I blame myself for having too much free time sitting around my crash pad streaming game live on MLB.TV…
With Saunders hurt and Smoak down in Tacoma – I have a hard time getting motivated to care at all. I’ve got nothing invested in Tui – being a local boy or going to UW/WSU doesn’t really affect me in these cases.
I like the outfield today – how’s that? 🙂
Beckett has been horrible enough this season to make you wonder if he was ever good. In other news, this lineup sure looks familiar…
Has there been any word from Boston on the estimated delay?.
According to Radarscope on the IPad, the worst of the weather has already passed over Boston. Still looking ugly, though.
TheRealMariners on twitter:
First game tomorrow is supposed to start at 10:35 AM Pacific time, assuming it ever stops raining in Boston.
Thanks, Paul B. FSN hasn’t bothered to run a crawl on the bottom of the screen to tell us what’s happening.
Bah I’m going to be in my American Studies class during the first game 🙁
I’m in Minneapolis all week. But on the bright side, I get to watch a REAL major league team on tv every night.
Game is going to start soon.
I’ve got it on the radio, sounds like they think they will get both games in today.
They just said it is starting to sprinkle again.
Haven’t got the lineup, not sure it is identical to what it was supposed to be last night.
Game on … and Ichiro doing what Ichiro does. Swinging right out the chute – like a feret on crack – and getting a hit.
And Figgins doing what he does … almost grounding into (errrr, definitely grounding into) a DP. Ichiro called for interference. My view from listening on the radio was obstructed. Did anybody see it – and was it the correct call?
Figgins out at first because Ichiro was called for interference sliding into second.
Anyone see it?
The call was marginal. Ichiro was close enough to the base that he could have reached it with his hand, so that was OK. Blowers surmised the call was because he popped up from his slide before he got to the base.
Thank you G-Man. The interference call at the ML level is so infrequent – that you pretty much have to conclude it was deserved. Since Brown didn’t put up much of a fuss, it sounds like the call was correct. If the dirt/clay is wet, Ichiro probably inadvertently popped up sooner than he had intended.
I’m thinking the home plate ump must have a small strike zone today.
Just checked the score on espn, since I’m working right now. Beckett must be dealing, since we’ve got exactly one hit.
Oh wait, I forgot. We’re the Mariners. Pretty much EVERY pitcher comes into the game looking forward to facing this lineup.
Good thing Brown’s sticking with the veterans, otherwise we’d look really bad…
Okay, snark break is over – back to work.
Can anyone (Dave?) give a rationale for not moving Figgins back to 3rd? How well Lopez plays 2nd is immaterial at this point (a slight decline in 2B defense is not going to cost the M’s any more games than they were going to lose anyway, not to mention he shouldn’t be playing at all,) so why not put Figgins where he’s most comfortable, shorten the time for him to “convert” back in the spring, and cycle guys through at 2nd?
ADEyes, I’ve had a couple thoughts regarding keeping Lopez. Now, I have been grasping for reasons myself; this is almost a devil’s advocate sort of reasoning, because I don’t consider this convincing, but FWIW…
In a few words, they figure they have little to gain, and a smidge more that that to lose.
There is always the faint hope that some contender will lose an infielder to injury and give the M’s a bag of balls (or just salary relief) by taking him in the next 6 days.
They might not be convinced they will want Figgins back at third. I for one am not sure Ackley will be ready for prime time, even by mid-2011. Also, I don’t know that Chone would want to jump back to third without some practice like he’d have on the spring.
Lopez is well liked and is a buddy of Felix. Why drag the team down even more by dropping him? The clubhouse has been a wreck as it is. It’s not like he’s done as a player, just not worth his contract to this team.
When a veteran is treated better than his performance seems to merit, I feel the team wants to look good to possible free agents that might be courted.
This is a very good and reasonable point. It makes as much sense as anything else I have heard in regard to why they are keeping Lopez in the mix (and with a still hard to comprehend important role). In any regard, it is a logical and believable point. We may not like it, but your reasoning makes sense.
I wonder if this is why they keep playing him:
Alright, so I don’t exactly know the rules…but if Jose is a Type B and the Mariners exercise their buyout, can they offer him arbitration anyway? And would there be a reasonable chance of him declining arbitration and the M’s getting a supplemental pick?
Thanks G, Msfan… my comment/question was really less about Lopez and more about Figgins. Lopez is unlikely to be renewed, and Figgins has been a career 3B with a couple years left on his contract. I just figured that moving him back to his “natural” position wouldn’t hurt the team at all, and may help him (Figgins) a little.
I guess I never really understood the motivation for the switch to begin with, let alone the insistence on sticking with it.
We already saw, last winter, that no other team was interested in Lopez – and that was before his performance dropped further toward the abyss. Any speculation that we’re “showcasing” him somehow to another team at this point just seems groundless.
Lopez was a below average defensive 2B, so the team figured that Figgins could better handle that position. Figgins’ offensive game profiles better as a middle infielder. Lopez (coming off of a 25 HR season), with limited range, but a good arm and a mostly decent glove, and with a body type suggesting C, 3B or 1B as the only viable possibilities – was moved to 3rd. Lopez has been adequate + at 3B, but along the way, he lost his bat. Figgins has had a bad year – and is probably not as good defensively as the team had hoped he would be at 2B, but his offensive game still “profiles” best as a middle-infielder (slappy). The team doesn’t have someone else to come in and play 2B (right now) and that might be a reason why Figgins hasn’t moved … in addition to the fact that they still have Lopez over at 3B – with a guy named Tui ready to display his frying pan glove at 3B should Lopez “leave.”
I am not sure that Figgins would be an answer at 3B for any portion of this season or next season. It all depends on Ackley’s development. Figgins’ might be valuable as a utility guy – and that might be his “natural” position. He isn’t really a 3B and he isn’t really a 2B … and unfortunately (this season) he hasn’t been of much value on offense.
He just slid into and did his own part to help nurture the suckdom that this season was/is.
Hahaha Herald Reynolds just said Casey Kotchman was having a nice season on MLBTonight.
Thanks Mike… I knew that Lopez was marginal at 2B, but Figgins hasn’t been wowing anyone either. Since Figgins had played at 3rd for the past 6 years, I guess I just assumed that’s where he “belonged.” (I didn’t think about it in the context of his offensive “type”)
I was thinking that at a certain point (1-1/2 months ago,) it might have been worth the decline in defense (perhaps) to have a less disgruntled Chone around. Now that the horse is REALLY out of the barn, it really seemed like a “what the hell?” situation.
Anyway, considering Figgins success with the change, and his offense, the decision to stick with things the way they are makes more sense now.
*oh, and by “success with the change” I mean “not playing 2B worse than Jose Lopez” (no regard for his “offense”)
whew… glad I cleared that up.